This invention relates generally to wireless transmitters and receivers, and more particularly to a wireless module that can be configured to operate as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, and/or repeater. This invention also relates to a method of transmitting and receiving information while substantially reducing or eliminating interference from competing Wi-Fi systems, as well as a method of transmitting data with a high degree of certainty without requiring an acknowledgement receipt, negotiation, or hand-shaking from a down line transceiver, receiver and/or repeater.
Radio Frequency (RF) modules, such as transceivers, transmitters and receivers, are employed in many different products, including mobile phones, personal computers, wireless networks, gaming devices, wireless sensors, radios, walkie-talkies, and so on. Consumer demand for more compact wireless products has led to increasingly smaller RF modules. However, prior art solutions have been inadequate to reduce the RF module even further since the matching and filtering components of the module are typically in linear alignment with an onboard antenna. Prior attempts to move the antenna and/or matching and filtering components have been for the most part futile as the transmission/reception performance is often reduced.
Prior art RF modules are also limited in the type and number of tasks they can perform. For those modules that are configurable as transmitters or receivers for example, expert knowledge of wireless systems and design is often required to manipulate such systems.
Another area where prior art solutions are limited is with Wi-Fi technology and the interference between other RF devices on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi uses a large amount of the 2.4 GHz band, and at large bandwidths, about one-third of the band per channel is consumed per Wi-Fi node. Currently, other 2.4 GHz wireless devices, such as Bluetooth, operate around Wi-Fi by employing a handshake or bi-directional system were the transmitter sends data and the receiver echoes back an acknowledgment that the data packet was received. The transmitter then sends the next packet to the receiver. If no data was received the two radios keep talking back and forth on many channels until they find a clear channel to talk on. This consumes quite a bit of current and requires a bi-directional link. This also restricts the devices to single point to single point communication. Point to multi-point or poing to multi-point or multi-point to multi-point communication is not possible under this system, since one transmitter sends and waits for a response to confirm receipt of its data. If there are many receivers, it is not possible for more than one receiver to talk back at a time.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a radio frequency module that overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.